A month before his death, Mac Miller gave his final TV performance during an appearance on CBS‘ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
During an Aug. 14 appearance on The Late Show, Miller performed “Ladders” from his fifth and final album, Swimming. The rapper was joined by Colbert’s house band, Jon Batiste and Stay Human.
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In light of Miller’s death, “Ladders” takes on a new meaning. In the song, the rapper urges his listeners to make sure they never let an opportunity slip by.
“Somehow we gotta find a way. No matter how many miles it takes,” Miller raps. “I know it feels so good right now. But it all comes fallin’ down. When the night meet the light…turn to day.”
In the chorus, Miller raps, “I wouldn’t wait forever. Just shoot your shot. We don’t need no more, no extras. We all we got.”
Miller also performed “Ladders” during an August show at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. He went back to the venue on Sept. 3 for his final live performance, four days before his death.
“Ladders” likely would have been a centerpiece of his planned North American tour to support Swimming. The tour was scheduled to start on Oct. 27 in San Francisco, with Thundercat and J.I.D. joining him on stage.
Miller also had big plans for his future. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Miller said he recently had a jam session with Post Malone, Thundercat and producer Frank Dukes. They worked so well together that Miller hoped to record and tour with Post.
“Me and Post have been talking about doing an album, so we got together. And then Frank Dukes has worked on a bunch of my records, but we had never met, so he came through too. And then Thundercat appeared and we all started jamming,” Miller recalled. “But it was beautiful. We were just having a great time.”
“A friend like Mac is a very rare. I felt like he cared about me not just as a musician, but as a real friend. The kind of friendship you can’t make up. We shared everything, laughed at everything, you don’t find that type of love very often. He made me feel less crazy,” Thundercat tweeted after hearing of Miller’s death. “To know Mac was definitely to love him. Hands down one of thee sincerest people I’ve met in my life.”
Miller, who struggled with substance abuse for years, was found dead in his California home Friday from an apparent drug overdose. He was 26.
Photo credit: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
